Round and square agricultural balers are known that are equipped with on-board moisture sensor systems. These sensor systems are typically employed to sense and display and/or record the “average’ moisture content of the bale. One purpose of sensing the moisture content of the bale is to determine whether the crop material can be safely baled, inasmuch as overly moist crop material cannot be stored without application of preservative or in some cases not at all. Overly moist hay without preservative tends to rot, mold and otherwise decompose, thereby spoiling the hay. Further, the decomposition of the hay creates heat and in some cases has been responsible for fires. The problem with making the decision as to whether a bale can be safely stored based upon the average moisture content of the bale is that it is possible (and often occurs) that the “average” moisture content of the entire bale is in an acceptable range (typically less than 20%), while a large enough portion of the bale might be at a moisture level that is too high for proper storage, thereby resulting in significant mold, spoilage, and even fire due to spontaneous combustion as a result of decomposition. For example, if it were assumed that, in a given bale, 75% of the bale is at a 15% moisture content level, but 25% of the bale is at a 22% moisture content level, then the average moisture content of the entire bale is 16.75%. Based on this average value, it appears that the bale should store well without concern for excessive mold, spoilage or fire. However, because 25% of the bale is too wet for storage, there is a high chance that mold, spoilage or fire could occur.
Accordingly there is a need in the art for a means to accurately determine not just the average moisture content of a bale, but also the fraction of the bale which is at a high moisture level.